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Alison Stewart was born on 23 March 1961,the daughter of Terry and Joy Stewart[1] and the granddaughter of Hector Grey, a well known Dublin trader and shop owner.[2] Alison studied at Mount Temple Comprehensive School[3] where, at the age of twelve, she met Paul Hewson, who was a grade ahead of her.

In 2005, Hewson, Bono and designer Rogan Gregory co-founded the Edun fashion label ("nude" spelled backwards, to suggest both "natural" and the Garden of Eden).[10] It was intended to help bring about positive change in Africa through a fair trade-based relationship rather than by direct aid.[11]

Songs written by Bono that were at least in part inspired by Ali go back to the earliest period of the band's recording career, with the track "Another Time, Another Place" off their 1980 first album, Boy.[12] She helped Bono get through a bad period of writer's block during the lead-up to the 1983 War album and especially in the lyric composition for "Sunday Bloody Sunday".[13] She was the inspiration for the personal themes of "New Year's Day" on that record as well.[14] The album and the accompanying War Tour brought financial success to the band, and Bono and Ali moved into a three-level, three-room Martello tower in Bray for some years.[15] The group's 1984 song "Promenade" reflects both that location and the spiritual aspects of his desire for her.[16]

The U2 song "Sweetest Thing" was written for Hewson as a gift because Bono forgot her birthday whilst recording with the band during The Joshua Tree sessions.[17] Originally released as a B-side in 1987, it was later re-recorded and released as a single from the compilation album The Best of 1980–1990 in 1998.[18] Hewson agreed to appear in the single's music video as long as all proceeds from it went to Chernobyl Children's Project.[18]